A version of this kind of thinking is central to the book “Beginning of Infinity” by David Deutsch.
His thinks that most ideas (or memes) can be roughly categorized into those that are (1) vulnerable to criticism/testing, and (2) those that can survive critical evaluation. In an environment where people blindly accept what they are told by authorities then nothing favours the ideas that survive criticism, and therefore they are unlikely to survive—except maybe by coincidence. Instead ideas that perform well on other metrics (such as “seeming important” or “making me look good when I express them”) will take over.
In contrast, if we change to an environment where ideas are criticised. Where people perform experiments or doubt the word of authorities, then the ideas that can survive criticism will have a survival advantage over their competition and spread.
David Deutsch argues that the first kind of society (word from authority, the way things have always been done etc) has dominated most human societies for most of history, but that we are currently in a wonderfully exceptional time (starting around the enlightenment) where criticism, argument and experiment are accepted.
So, in his view, I think the “ideas handwashing” is criticising and questioning ideas.
A version of this kind of thinking is central to the book “Beginning of Infinity” by David Deutsch.
His thinks that most ideas (or memes) can be roughly categorized into those that are (1) vulnerable to criticism/testing, and (2) those that can survive critical evaluation. In an environment where people blindly accept what they are told by authorities then nothing favours the ideas that survive criticism, and therefore they are unlikely to survive—except maybe by coincidence. Instead ideas that perform well on other metrics (such as “seeming important” or “making me look good when I express them”) will take over.
In contrast, if we change to an environment where ideas are criticised. Where people perform experiments or doubt the word of authorities, then the ideas that can survive criticism will have a survival advantage over their competition and spread.
David Deutsch argues that the first kind of society (word from authority, the way things have always been done etc) has dominated most human societies for most of history, but that we are currently in a wonderfully exceptional time (starting around the enlightenment) where criticism, argument and experiment are accepted.
So, in his view, I think the “ideas handwashing” is criticising and questioning ideas.